It all started during a late night gathering in the mid-1990s. Martin Maheux, a naturally imaginative and ambitious young man in his early twenties, was always on the lookout for new ideas, fun concepts, and a general good time. But the truth is, on this night, creativity and innovation was the last thing on Martin’s mind when he arrived at his friend’s party. Fate, however, is not one to be told how to operate and, when she decided that Martin was due for a little inspiration, the only thing he could do was enjoy the ride.

Martin’s friend was studying to be a machinist and, for a school project, had created a very unique chess set made completely out of metal. He was so proud of his handiwork that he put the chess set on display in his living room. That evening, while looking for a break from the party, Martin relaxed on a sofa in the living room and was immediately mesmerized by the sharp beauty of this school-made chess set. Deep in thought, Martin gazed at the chess pieces for what seemed like hours.  And then a very simple and honest question popped into his head. “What if… what if he forgot something?” Martin thought to himself before jumping up from his seat and blurting aloud:

“What if that guy forgot something?”

“No, no, Martin, it’s a full set. All the chess pieces are there, I can assure you,” said the friend who had machined the set.

“No, not you. Your set is very nice.  I mean what if the guy who invented the game of chess forgot to include something?!”

“I don’t know, Martin. The game of chess has been around for a long time. If something was missing, I’m sure somebody would have noticed by now,” replied his friend.

Realizing that he had shouted his profound thought loud enough for half the guests to hear and that with such exclamation came all their attention, Martin quickly told his friend that he was probably right and quietly sat back down. But he could not shake the thought that something was missing.

That night, Martin had a dream. A dream about chess, but there was something different.  There were dragons and flag carriers, and the war was being waged from a castle instead of the open battlefield. When he awoke, Martin was overcome with excitement.  He immediately called his brother to tell him about the dream and that he had reinvented the game of chess. Martin’s brother Alain was a provincially recognized chess player at the collegiate level and his opinion of these modern twists on the classic game would mean a lot. As Martin expected, Alain said he was crazy to think he reinvented the game of chess.

“How soon can you get here?” Martin asked over the phone.

“You’re serious, aren’t you? Well, I have some things to do but can be there in a couple of hours,” Alain responded.

“Perfect! I will have everything in place by the time you get here,” said an exited Martin.

Despite being born into a family of chess players and being surrounded by the game his entire life, Martin never took to chess. He always found it boring and unimaginative. But the new characters from his dream were colorful and full of life and the castle added a new element to a rather rudimentary gaming board. With his brother on the way over, Martin searched the house for a variety of materials that he could use to construct the new pieces and create a sample board.

Arriving on schedule, Alain took one look at what his sibling had done and instantly fell in love Martin’s makeshift demo – Crusade & Conquer was born. In fact, he was so enamoured with the New Game in Town that he gave up playing competitive chess, saying that he was no longer capable of thinking about such a boring version of Crusade & Conquer.  Several thousand games of Crusade & Conquer later, Alain firmly believes he made the right decision.